30 FURNESS ABBEY. 



class accommodation it offers, in the various relics 

 of antiquity which adorn several of the rooms. Here 

 the tourist should bespeak bis bed, if he means to 

 study the Abbey. 



The Abbey was founded in A. D. 1127. Its 

 domains extended over the whole promontory in 

 which it lies, and to the north, as far 

 as the Shire Stones on Wrynose. They 

 occupied the space between Windermere on the 

 east and the D addon on the west. The Abbot 

 was a sort of king; and his abbey was enriched, 

 not only by King Stephen, but by the gifts of 

 neighbouring proprietors, who were glad to avail 

 themselves, not only of its religious privileges, but 

 of its military powers for the defence of their 

 estates against border foes, and the outlaws of 

 the mountains, — the descendants of the conquered 

 Saxons, who inherited their fathers' vengeance. 

 The Abbey was first peopled from Normandy, — a 

 sufficient number of the Benedictine monks coming 

 over from the monastery of Savigny to establish 

 this house in honour of St. Marye of Furnesse. 

 In a few years their profession changed : they fol- 

 lowed St. Bernard, and wore the white cassock, 

 caul and scapulary, instead of the dress of the 

 grey monks. It is strange now to see the rail- 

 way traversing those woods where these grey-robed 

 foreigners used to pass hither and thither, on their 

 holy errands to the depressed and angry native 

 Saxons dwelling round about. The situation of 

 the Abbey, as is usual with religious houses, is fine. 

 It stands in the depth of a glen, with a stream 

 flowing by, — the sides of the glen being clothed 

 with wood. A beacon once belonged to it; a 



